Follow Us

More

Crytek's 'Arena of Fate' Gets First Gameplay Trailer

It's not a great time for Crytek Studios who've been suffering from financial woes and earning a great many of concerning headlines amongst video games media in recent weeks. As we're learning, the reports of wages not being paid on time and employees leaving or being downright unhappy were seemingly true. They're evolving and shifting focus and getting everyone aboard hasn't been the smoothest of transitions. Part of the reason, according to insiders is because of new directions the company is moving in, including jumping on the free-to-play MOBA bandwagon with a new game called Arena of Fate.

There are so many devs attempting to make MOBAs, arguably too many. It's not surprising given the popularity, success and growing mainstream eSports appeal of hits like Dota 2 and League of Legends. But for Crytek and their impressive video game engine, much of the staff (and their fans) were all about the big, pretty triple-A games like Crysis. Still, Black Sea Studios was acquired in 2008 for this reason and to expand Cryteks "games-as-a-service" strategy even if it hurts hearing that Crytek reportedly canned a sequel to Ryse: Son of Rome and had to pass up the IP and development of Homefront: The Revolution to publisher Deep Silver who handed it to another developer.

Arena of Fate was unveiled earlier this year in May, and outside of referencing it in relation to Crytek's recent struggle, we've not had a chance to talk about it. Arena of Fate is a free-to-play PC game, another 5 vs. 5 multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), that throws a spin on notable historical and fantasy figures letting players choose from the likes of Achilles, Robin Hood and Joan of Arc to Little Red Riding Hood, Alice and (Nikola) Tesla.

At Gamescom 2014, the annual video games trade show in Germany (equivalent to E3 in LA), Crytek unveiled the first official Arena of Fate gameplay trailer which is now available online. In it we see Little Red Riding Hood offering an introduction to the arena and showcasing some of the other playable characters, combat and gameplay. Needless to say, it's all too familiar which is probably why the comments and ratings on the official YouTube channel are more negative than positive.

Is there room for Arena of Fate? Heroes of the Storm is also on the way from Blizzard which will splinter the market even more.

Read more and sign up for the Arena of Fate beta at the official site here.